Students Eager for New Campus

Construction on the project is due to be phased in over a period from 2017 to 2037.

By Olga Kalashnikova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: February 27, 2014 (Issue # 1799)

Kudrovo, near St. Petersburg, will be the location for a proposed new campus expected to house 35,000 students. Photo: wikimedia commons

The Leningrad Oblast government has signed off on a proposed campus for 35,000 students in Kudrovo, an area near the Ulitsa Dybenko metro station. The project is currently in the development stage.

A memorandum, which also acted as a declaration of intent, was signed by the government of Leningrad Oblast, NAI Becar and two St. Petersburg universities — the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping and the St. Petersburg State University of Economics (which unites the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, the St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics and the St. Petersburg State University of Service and Economics).

Leningrad Oblast will provide a plot of land free of charge in Kudrovo. The property, which occupies 326 hectares, is mostly forest and developers hope to be able to start working on it by spring 2014. The exact borders of the proposed site are yet to be determined.

A lack of facilities for students has been a problem in St. Petersburg for many years. Although the city’s universities have tried to build accommodation for students on several occasions, all of the projects have failed for varying reasons.

For Makarov University, this new project is its third attempt to create a new campus for its student body. Currently, the university buildings are scattered throughout the city, from the Kirovsky district to Vasilievsky Island, and from the Nevsky district to Strelna. At the same time, few of the buildings are able to provide both accommodation and study areas, acknowledged Igor Dedenko, the pro-rector for development at St. Petersburg State University. With such a variety of buildings, the maintenance cost cannot be reduced and managing them is becoming a problem for the school.

St. Petersburg State University has also worked long and hard to solve the problem. In 1969, a decision was made to move the entire university into a newly constructed complex in Peterhof. However, the university remains divided into separate areas with some buildings on Vasilievsky Island, some near Smolny and facilities in the Petrodvortsovy district, which is several hours from the city center. In addition, a new campus for the Graduate School of Management has been built on the Petergofskaya doroga.

A retrospective of the films of Roman Polanski starts today at Loft-Project Etagi, 74 Ligovsky Prospekt, with a screening of ‘Repulsion’ at 7 p.m. and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ at 9:15 p.m. The series runs through Feb. 4 and will include Polanski's eminently creepy ‘The Tenant,’ the cult comedy ‘The Fearless Vampire Killers’ and ‘Cul-de-sac’ among others. Tickets are 150-200 rubles and the complete schedule is available at www.vk.com/artpokaz/